Building Communities of Practice for gender equality in ERA. An interactive event for practitioners to #ACTonGender in HE & R&I
The 1st ACT International Synergy Conference celebrated in Brussels on 25th February 2019 has gathered more than 100 people from 23 countries. The event has been an opportunity to introduce the project to a wide international audience and find synergies between diverse stakeholders, including gender experts and researchers, research policy directors, gender project managers, diversity and inclusion officers, gender equality practitioners, and institutions participating in other EU-funded projects on gender in science.
Besides presenting the main concepts, tools and activities of ACT, the 1st Synergy Conference has included experiences of Communities of Practice (CoP) and fostered dialogue about the benefits and challenges of using CoPs for collaborative action to improve gender equality in the European Research Area. The event included interactive sessions and participatory activities oriented to get to know existing and potential members of the ACT Communities of Practice across Europe.
For more information read the highlights and see the Conference presentations, video interviews and full programme below.
Presentations about the ACT project
Introduction to the ACT Project. Key concepts, tools and activities. María José Romano, ACT Project Manager, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain
Benefits and challenges of using Communities of Practice for advancing gender equality in ERA. Rachel Palmén, Senior Researcher, Notus, Spain
First insights from the Community Mapping survey. Sybille Reidl, Researcher, Joanneum Research, Austria.
Good practices and experiences of Communities of Practice
Experiences from "GenderCoP" 2006-2014 or the rise and fall of a promising CoP. Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Researcher, Orebro University, Sweden
TARGET project. The Role of a Network of Universities. Anastasia Zabaniotou, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Video Interviews
Gloria Bonder, Director of the Department of Gender, Society and Policies of the Latin American Postgraduate Institute of Social Sciences (FLACSO Argentina) and coordinator of the UNESCO Regional Chair on Women, Science and Technology in Latin America.
Beverley Damonse, Group Executive: Science Engagement and Corporate Relations of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
Karolina Kublickiene, Associate Professor, director of doctoral programme and founder of "Gendered Innovation Alliance" at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Sweden.
Anastasia Zabaniotou, Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), coordinator of the H2020 project TARGET member of the Mediterranean Network of Engineering Schools (RMEI).
Lidia Borrell-Damián, Director for Research and Innovation at the European University Association (EUA).
Magdalena Wencka, Co-lead of Gender Mainstreaming Action of the European Integrated Center for the Development of New Metallic Alloys and Compounds (Poland).
Meytal Eran Jona, Academic consultant of the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel).
Isabel Ruckelshauss, International Policy Manager at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), speaks about the Gender Working Group (GWG) of the Global Research Council.
Astrid Zuurbier, Coordinator of Diversity Policy at the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Pictures of the 1st ACT Interntaional Synergy Conference
Date and time: 25 February 2019
Venue: BEL (Avenue du Port 86C, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium - see map)
Programme:
9:30 – 10:00 Arrival & registration
10:00 – 10:10 Welcome by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation
Signe Ratso, Deputy Director-General of the DG Research & Innovation (RTD), European Commission
10:10 – 10:20 Welcome from the Coordinator
Jörg Müller, Senior Researcher, UOC, Spain
10:20 – 10:40 Brief introduction to the ACT project
María José Romano, ACT Project Manager, Spain
Key concepts, tools and activities of the ACT project
10:40 – 11:00 Communities of Practice for advancing gender equality in ERA
Rachel Palmén, Senior Researcher, Notus, Spain
Benefits and challenges of using Communities of Practice for advancing gender equality in ERA
11:00 – 12:00 Good Practice CoP Experiences: gender equality in R&I and HE
Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Researcher, Orebro University, Sweden
Anastasia Zabaniotou, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Karolina Kublickiene, Associated Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
12:00 – 12:30 Open Discussion
Moderated by Claartje Vinkenburg, Independent Consultant & Associate Professor at VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:00 Getting involved in ACT!
Sybille Reidl, Researcher, Joanneum Research, Austria
Presentation and first insights from the community mapping survey. Introduction to the participatory session.
14:00 – 14:30 Networking
An opportunity to network with other participants, explore the H2020 Project stands and leave your comments and suggestions in our pinboard area.
14:30 – 16:00 Targeting and maximising CoP
7 participatory consultation sessions on initial CoP setups and support scenarios. Individual sessions are moderated by 7 ACT Seed partners.
16:00 – 16:30 Reports to plenary from the group discussions
16:30 – 17:00 Conclusions and next steps to advance opportunities and impact of collective action
Elizabeth Pollitzer, Co-funder & Director of Portia, UK
Interactive session with contributions from the audience.
Download the programme in this link.
Be part of #ACTonGender!
